When & what's your earliest memory?

[Flying Llama]

The earliest memory I can remember is everything around just being dark or just blackness. Thoughts were going through my mind of planets and the galaxy or something like that. Very very strange. I've always remembered this and I'm not sure if its from another life, this life, or what. Just blackness around and just that thought. A renewing, a new beginning. I can always remember that before anything else. Maybe that was when I was born? Maybe that was when I almost died when I was premature? I dunno...

Was it maybe a dream? Interesting... (I love this kind of stuff! )

llama

 

[IJ Reilly]

Very early memory, probably no more than three or three and a half, of getting separated from my mother at a department store and balling my head off. I remember a very kindly sales clerk lady picking me up and sitting me on the counter and asking me my name, which I could barely pronounce at that age, and with all the crying besides. I can recall her making an announcement on the store PA system. Of course she got my name wrong and I knew it -- which panicked me even more! Naturally mothers understand their kid's baby talk even if other mothers don't, and mine raced right over to fetch her traumatized child.

I haven't thought of this since -- it happened. Thanks guys. I hate you all! WAAAAH!

 

[icysummer]

I have two early memories.
The first is being in a creche with brown wooden walls. That from what I can discern is around 2-3 years of age.
The second, which I can put an accurate time on, was sitting in front of the tv watching on the news, Challenger exploding. At the time I was 3 1/2 years old.

 

[iSaint]

My earliest memory was when I was just over a year old, sitting in my grandmother's car.

My older brother had just died a short while before, and we were at a petting zoo trying to distract me (and them). I remember being in the car, and I remember knowing something was wrong.

My next memory is at two years of age, hallucinating that a Raggedy Andy doll was on top of the house we lived in.

Dang, dude...that's so sad remembering about your brother.

When I was older I would wander the house when I had a fever at night, kind of hallucinating.

 

[minimax]

My earliest memory was a 150 ns 30-pin SIMM.

hahaha LOL.

Apparently most people retain their earliest memory around three years old (+/- a year). Mine was exactly on my third birthday. I remember being very excited on my day nursery about being able to pull something from the 'magic box' (grab bag). I think it was a plastic little hammer.
Does anyone have the problem of being unable to distinguish between actual events happening in your early childhood and dreams. I know it took my into my late teens before I was fairly certain to know some things never happened (a giant walking around in our village was fairly easy to categorize as a dream, but I was long under the impression my aunt and uncle's house once almost got destroyed by a large fire, and i was there so I should know)

 

[hcuar]

I remember being 1 1/2 sitting on the floor next to my cousin playing.

I have a lot more more memories from 2 - 3 years old (nursury school, playing with kids and dog outside). I also remember our house sinking due to being built ontop of an old farmhouse basement filled with junk.

It seems many of my memories coincide with photographs. The questions is... do I actually remember the event, do I think I remember the event because of the photo, or does the photo actually help me keep remembering. (I do have some memories from 2-3 without photos)